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Magnus Carlsen advances to his first FIDE World Cup Finals, set to face Caruana or Praggnanandhaa

20/08/2023 -

R Praggnanandhaa once again passed the Fabiano Caruana (USA) test. He had to defend his position against the American, who is still undefeated at FIDE World Cup 2023. Caruana was pushing for a full point from the middlegame. It eventually liquidated into a rook and knight endgame where the teenager once again had to show his best defensive skills. Magnus Carlsen (NOR) was royally upset that he could not beat Nijat Abasov (AZE). Things almost went out of hand in the same color bishop endgame. Carlsen eventually drew the game with precise play and advanced to the Finals of a World Cup for the very first time in his career. Anna Muzychuk (UKR) drew against Zhongyi Tan (CHN) to win the match, secure a Bronze medal and a spot at the FIDE Women's Candidates 2024. Caruana and Praggnanandhaa will have to play tie-breaks. Who do you think will win it and face Carlsen in the Finals? Round 7 tie-break games start tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

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8-year-old Alankrita Sharma dominates Smart Girls Rating Tournament 2023 Jammu

20/08/2023 -

8-year-old Alankrita Sharma scored 8.5/9 to win Smart Girls Rating Tournament 2023 in Jammu. She finished a full point ahead of the field and remained undefeated. Priya Yadav scored sole 7.5/9 to secure second place. Her only loss was against the eventual second runner-up, Srujanika Gupta 7/9. She edged past Vitasta Koul on tie-breaks. The top three prizes were ₹5000 + trophy, ₹3000 and ₹2000. The tournament was held from 27th to 31st July 2023 at Hotel Nek in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir. It was organized by Crown Trust. This was Alankrita's first rating tournament triumph of her career. The objective of Smart Girls is to attract more female players to participate in tournaments, get rating in an event which has low entry fee barrier of only ₹250. Photos: Atul Kumar Gupta

29th Abu Dhabi Masters 2023 R4: Hari Madhavan wins a wild game against Kobalia

20/08/2023 -

GM-elect IM Rathanvel V S drew against the 44th Olympiad Gold medalist GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) in the fourth round of 29th Abu Dhabi Masters 2023. GM Aryan Chopra defeated GM Sankalp Gupta after the latter made a huge positional mistake in the endgame. Both Rathanvel and Aryan are at 3.5/4 each. They will face each other in the fifth round. GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) and GM Xiangyu Xu (CHN) are the coleaders with a perfect score 4/4. GM Karthik Venkataraman, GM Sandipan Chanda, GM Aravindh Chithambaram, FM Ethan Vaz, GM Pranav V and IM Hari Madhavan N B are at 3/4 each. Round 5 starts today at 5 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

60th National Championship 2023 R4: Praveen Kumar astonishes Akash

20/08/2023 -

IM Praveen Kumar C defeated his Tamil Nadu statemate GM Akash G in the fourth round of 60th National Chess Championship 2023. Despite being in control for the better part of the game, Akash loosened his grip in the endgame. It was enough for Praveen to turn things around. IM Nitin S (TN) and CM Soham Kamotra (J&K) held GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (PSPB) and GM Diptayan Ghosh (WB) to a draw each respectively. Dhananjay (CHAT) continues his good form as he drew against the strong GM Venkatesh M R (PSPB). Shriraj Bhosale (MAH) scored a big win over the veteran, IM D V Prasad (KAR). Praveen is the sole IM among the eight leaders at 4/4. Round 5 starts today at 3 p.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

FIDE World Cup 2023 SF: Carlsen beats Abasov, Praggnanandhaa holds his ground against Caruana

19/08/2023 -

R Praggnanandhaa drew against Fabiano Caruana (USA) after a 4.5 hour-long battle. It was not an easy game at all. Yet he managed to fend off all possible threats by keeping things in balance. Magnus Carlsen (NOR) had a topsy-turvy game against Nijat Abasov (AZE). First, the world no.1 blundered, allowing his opponent to win the game. Later, Abasov blundered. After missing his first chance, the Norwegian seized his second one. IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL) had a solid draw against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina. GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) was determined to go for a win and she managed to beat GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN) for the first time in nearly 6.5 years. Round 7.2 games start tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Aditya S Samant becomes India's 83rd and Maharashtra's 12th Grandmaster

19/08/2023 -

IM Aditya S Samant became India's 83rd and Maharashtra's 12th Grandmaster on Wednesday 26th July 2023. He just needed to play the penultimate round of 53rd Biel Chess Festival Master Tournament (MTO) against GM Aryan Chopra. The outcome of the game was immaterial towards his final GM-norm. The 16-year-old scored his first GM-norm at 28th Abu Dhabi Masters 2022 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He secured his second GM-norm at 3rd El Llobregat Open 2023 in Sant Boi de Llobregat, Spain. He crossed 2500 in the May 2023 FIDE Rating list. Aditya loves to play sharp and attacking chess which is reflected in all the tournaments he played. He is also one of the few GMs in recent times who did not play a single round-robin norm events. The Grandmaster title was always an inevitability for him. It was only a matter of time. Check out a 50-minute long interview by IM Sagar Shah to get to know more about his journey. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

29th Abu Dhabi Masters 2023 R3: Rathanvel swindles Jaime to score a hat-trick

19/08/2023 -

GM-elect IM Rathanvel V S defeated GM Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP) in the third round of 29th Abu Dhabi Masters 2023. Despite being down by an exchange, the GM-elect played enterprisingly. He kept creating chances for himself until his opponent blundered. Rathanvel is one of the five leaders with a perfect score 3/3. GMs Aryan Chopra, Sankalp Gupta, Sandipan Chanda and Aravindh Chithambaram are in pursuit at 2.5/3 each. IM Harikrishnan A Ra held 44th Olympiad Gold medalist, GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) to a draw. FM Vedant Panesar scored an impressive victory over GM Pranav Anand. FM Ethan Vaz won the rook and pawn endgae when his opponent IM Ravi Teja misplayed. Round 4 starts today at 5 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

60th National Championship 2023 R3: Dhananjay causes knightmare for Abhijeet Gupta

19/08/2023 -

Dhananjay S (CHAT) scored a huge victory over the top seed of 60th National Chess Championship 2023, GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB) in the third round. The reigning Chhattisgarh State Senior champion traded both of his bishops for knights by the tenth move. Later he manuevered his knights quite well. When opportunity arose, he exchanged one of his knight with his opponent's good bishop and went on to convert his advantage quite well. Ram S Krishnan (BSNL) had a good chance to win in the endgame after his opponent, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (RSPB) sacrificed his bishop in a balanced endgame. Shriraj Bhosale (MAH) had an exciting draw against IM Neelash Saha (RSPB) who sacrificed his queen. Round 4 starts today at 3 p.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

29th Abu Dhabi Masters 2023 R2: Sanket does a king march against Ahmad

18/08/2023 -

Sanket Chakravarty scored a fine victory against IM Ahmad Ahmadzada (AZE) in Round 2 of 29th Abu Dhabi Masters 2023. The double rook endgame seemed to have headed towards a draw until Sanket decided to march his king down the board. His opponent provided little to no resistance which allowed the Indian to win the game. Currently, four Indians are at 2/2. They are - GM Aryan Chopra, IM Rathanvel V S, GM Raja Rithvik R and GM Sandipan Chanda. There are dozen more players who have made a perfect start. IM FT Harikrishnan A Ra and FM Ojasva Singh drew against GM Jakhongir Vakhidov (UZB) and GM Stany G A respectively. Round 3 starts today at 5 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

60th National Championship 2023 R1-2: Balkishan upsets P Karthikeyan

18/08/2023 -

12-year-old Mitul K H (KAR) gave a massive scare to GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (PSPB) in the first round of 60th National Chess Championship 2023. The kid got himself a huge decisive advantage against the six-time consecutive National champion. However, he was unable to make the most out of his opportunity. Similarly, in the second roundk, Ajay Kumar Rai (DASCB) got himself a substantial advantage against the top seed, GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB). However, he misplayed and blundered a piece to lose the game. Balkishan Anand (KAR) scored the first big upset of the tournament as he defeated GM P Karthikeyan (RSPB). Round 3 starts today at 3 p.m. IST. Photos: Siddhant Mahajan

China on the verge of winning FIDE World Youth U16 Olympiad 2023

18/08/2023 -

India lost to Uzbekistan 3.5-0.5 in the sixth round of FIDE World Youth Under-16 Olympiad 2023. Aswath S' draw against FM Khumoyun Begmuratov avoided a whitewash. Team India bounced back by winning against Italy 3-1 in the seventh round without suffering a single game loss. Aswath and FM Harsh Suresh scored the wins while, CM Arjun Adireddy and Tejaswini G drew their respective games. In the penultimate eighth round, India drew against France 2-2. Tejaswini scored the key victory for her team against Noam Patole. Aswath and Harsh drew their respective games. India will face Hungary in the final round 9 which starts at 10:30 a.m. local time, 2 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

FIDE World Cup 2023 QF: Praggnanandhaa wins exhilarating tie-breaks, sets up a clash against Caruana in the Semifinals

17/08/2023 -

R Praggnanandhaa won an absolute thriller tie-break match against his good friend Arjun Erigaisi. It started with two draws before they traded two wins each. They all came with the black pieces. It was time for 3'+2" sudden death Blitz as four Rapid and two 5'+3" could not decide a winner. In an exciting final act of the tie-breaks, Pragg was nowhere to be found and the game had started. He arrived more than 30 seconds after the game and won it. Praggnanandhaa attributes her mother being an attendance and being a pillar of support definitely helped him to etch his name in history. He becomes the first Indian ever to reach the Semifinals of a FIDE World Cup since the current format got introduced in 2005. He will face Fabiano Caruana in the Semis. IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL) also won a thriller against GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) to secure her place in the finals.Tomorrow is a rest day. Round 7.1 games start on Saturday, 19th August at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Maria Emelianova/chess.com

29th Abu Dhabi Masters 2023 R1: Divya Deshmukh stuns Pranav Anand

17/08/2023 -

The 29th edition of Abu Dhabi Chess Festival 2023 Masters started with a lot of upsets in the first round. The biggest one is the reigning Asian Continental and National Women champion, IM Divya Deshmukh winning against the World Under-16 Open champion, GM Pranav Anand. IM Jubin Jimmy defeated GM Alexander Raetsky.  18 players are rated above 2600. 41 GMs, 54 IMs, 6 WGMs and 3 WIMs are taking part. The average rating of the tournament is 2435. That should give you an idea about the strength of the tournament. Check out a pictorial report of the first round along with some final moments of few games. Round 2 starts today at 5 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

The most valuable chess guestbook ever

17/08/2023 -

Frederic Friedel founded ChessBase in 1985. For the last 38 years, he has been having chess guests at his house. Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik, Gelfand, Leko, Svidler, Polgar - absolutely every chess legend has been to his place. The house has been welcoming to just about every chess player, and even in the present generation, we have had Nihal Sarin, Gukesh, Savitha, and many other Indian talents who have been to the Friedel House in Hamburg. One thing has been constant - each and every guest has had to fill out the guest book, and this has led to a beautiful compilation of heartfelt messages from the greatest minds in the world of chess at different phases of their chess careers! IM Sagar Shah was at Frederic's place in Hamburg, and they had a nice trip down memory lane.

FIDE World Cup 2023 R6.2: Praggnanandhaa forces tie-breaks, Gukesh draws against Carlsen on his exit

16/08/2023 -

R Praggnanandhaa struck back with the black pieces in a must-win game against Arjun Erigaisi. The battle between two good friends at the FIDE World Cup 2023 is not over. Pragg found a nice plan to keep his opponent's rook and bishop trapped in the seventh rank. It allowed him to activate his king and push for win. They will play tie-breaks tomorrow to determine the last semifinalist. D Gukesh played enterprising chess to hold the world no.1, Magnus Carlsen (NOR) to a draw. It certainly drew praise by the best chess player in the world. Vidit Gujrathi had to suffer an exit as he was bested by the fast and furious, Nijat Abasov (AZE). Fabiano Caruana defeated Leinier Dominguez Perez after a nearly 5.5 hour-long grueling battle. Caruana will face the winner of Arjun and Pragg. Aleksandra Goryachkina drew against Zhongyi Tan (CHN) to advance to the Finals of FIDE Women's World Cup 2023. IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL) held GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) to a draw. They will have to play tie-breaks. Round 6 TB games start tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

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